The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1887-08-11

ths House prior to his promotion 10 th.
Senate, 70 which body b. was ohosei
! for three successive terms,
During Mr.. Douglas first term n Oh,
Senate he became very careless IN hiA
dress to such extent a. to evoke unfa
vofablo comment ct WashinRton ant
elsewhere. His attire was wholly ne
elected, Of the shabbiest and ill-Attinl
order, and the bow-knot Of his cravat va.
eftener observed under his left ear tina,
IN Ito proper place. This condition
however, was not the result Of eccen
tricity, but Of entire Indifference to Der
sonal adornment, and he paid no atten-
tion whatever to the maxim that "dres.
has corresponding influence upon Cd
dress" He was then . widower, bu'
when he married his second wife, Mis-
Cults, the accomplished and beautiful
daughter of James Madison Cults. second
comptroller Of the treasury, and grand.
daughter Of the distinguished Richard
Quits, Of Massachusetts, the specia'
friend Of Presidents Jefferson, Madison
and Monroe, Senator Douglas was i'm
mediately given the very best Of groom
ing, and under the constant care and
auspices of his wife, q complete meta
morphose Of attire was accomplished ant
maintained.
No one was more careful Of dress thar
Charles Sumner, and hence many i'll
natured criticisms we're commonly offered
upon his alleged "dandyism." The two
figures of Douglas and Sumner were the
extreme Of contrast, Mr.. Douglas being
short and "stubby," while MI Sumner
was tall and gracefully proportioned
Mr.. Douglas features were small and his
complexion dark; the features Of Mr..
Sumner were large and his complexion
light and ruddy. While Mr.. Douglas
was not an ugly man, he could not be
classed - handsome; Dor contra, Mr..
Sumner was certainly fine looking and
Of distinguished presence. Mr.. Douglas,
however, cared nothing for appearances,
but Mr.. Sumner never wavered in his a.
legiance and devotion to the demands Of
personal adornment.
Mr.. Douglas had neither conception Of
nor desire for scenic effects. He relied
Tor precedence wholly upon the superior
force of oratory and his almost match
less powers In running debate. Mr..
Sumner believed in the aesthetics, and
was . devotee to form, space and atti-
tude, 40 well of language and of pres
ence. With him all the accompani-
ments were imperatively necessary, and
his public and private methods were as
orderly - well-served menu, from the
bivalvular alpha to the omega of the
walnuts and the wine. Mr.. Douglas
was by nature intensely democratic and
unostentatious, while Mr.. Sumner gravi-
tated toward the aristocratic and exclu-
sive. While both possessed dignity, that
quality was of entirely different genre.
Mr.. Sumner preserved loneliness which
rarely unbended even to most intimate
friends, and yet he could be charmingly
social and entertaining in private inter-
course. In public demeanor he rarely,
II ever, permitted advance beyond the
dead line Of his self-imposed barrier.
There were grave rumors that MI. Sum-
ner suffered grievous disappointment
In love from which he never recovered,
although later in life he married some.
what unhsppily. The lady with whom
he was enamored was the daughter of q
Michigan senator, the colleague Of Lewis
Cass, q most intellectual and lovely per-
son, mentally and physically equipped to
advance and share the fortunes Of any
public man. How this disappointment
came about nobody knows. Possibly
Mr.. Sumner did nd press his suit or
failed, like John Alden, in courage to
speak. He accompanied the lady on an
extended tour to Minnesota and was her
cavalier, greatly to the chagrin of other
would be admirers, when visiting the
falls OF Minnehaha, Fort Smelling, st.
Paul, the beautiful lakes and other attrac.
tions of the land Of "sky. tinted water"
She married shortly afterward, and the
tradition goes that the Massachusetts
statesman mourned her as one lost much
after the poetic fashion Of "Locksley
Hall"
Senators Wade and Chandler were fair
samples of the rough diamond, who paid
little heed to personal adornment, while
Senators Fessenden and Hale were
especially proper in their attire. 1t 10
related that about the period when hos
tilities between the North and South
were closed Ben Wade, as he was famil-
iarly known, visited Nashville, Tenn,
and for the first time In his life sampled
what Is known as Robertson county"
whiskey, a distillation of corn-juice Pc
culiar to that locality, alleged to be en-.
tirely pure, because 1t is not fermented
by substances other than its own spent
beer" Mr.. Wade had often given ear to
panegyrics upon the superiority of this
strain Of whiskey, but had never tasted
the ambrosis. The consequences of this
indulgence may be better imagined than
described, especially by those familiar
with Mr.. Wade's personal habits.
The fiery Ohio senator succumbed to
the insidious but no less agreeable in
huence of Robertson county," but as no
headache or disagreeable effects ensued
on the "inglorious next morning." he
pronounced 1t absolutely the best
whiskey he had ever sampled. Some
little time subsequent to this episode, Q
personal friend, resident at Nashville,
obtained flve-gallon keg of Robertson
county," distilled before the war and
improved by age, and sent the priceless
treasure by express to Washington d.
rected to Senator Wade, coupled with
the inquiry whether he was still Of
opinion that 1t was the best whiskey ex-
tant. Ben Wade's reply was character
istic and ran about as follows:
Dear Friend: l have received the keg of
"Robertson-county" whiskey. It is nectar,
and am still of opinion that it is the best
whiskey made. I have placed the keg on
tap in my committee rOUm will share its
contents with my friends of the Senate, and
remind them from whom it comes. Crate
fully your friend, BEN F. WADE.
A keg Of neutrality-suspicious. and emil
nence OF contents was shortly thereafter
sent by the same gentleman to Schuyler
Colfax, then Speaker of the House, in ig-
nOrance, however. of the fact that Mr..